Saturday, 10 September 2011

A salute to our city's police!

A resident of south Calcutta, this morning I heard a loud bang downstairs and I immediately rushed to my window overlooking the road! A truck had collided with a passenger bus. By the look of it, it seemed like it was the truck’s fault. Like it always happens, the passengers, conductor and pedestrians all gherao-ed the truck and demanded that the truck driver come out, blocking the roads entirely! I was about to get back to my work, assuming that the fight below would turn into nothing less than a brawl, when out of the blue I saw two traffic sergeants approaching the scene. By then, the truck driver was literally being heckled by the crowd. My fears for the truck driver subsided when the sergeants intervened, took the truck driver aside, heard the plight of the conductor and passengers and asked the bus driver to make way for others. Within minutes, the traffic snarl had vanished. But on the sidelines, the sergeants were carrying out on the spot verification of the papers of the truck and license of the truck driver. By the time, I relayed the entire story to Dad, who’d joined me by then, the roads were all clear. No police, no bus driver, no truck driver.

Over the past few days, the police of Calcutta have been very alert and on the go. There has been a definite change in the force and it can be seen. Today’s incident just instills more confidence in me!

A salute to all those who man the city and try to make it a safe place! :)